The Beer of all Beers: Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA

Josh and I have always been really into microbrews and craft beers.

On vacation we are always looking for local breweries to sample their creations.

You can catch up on some of our "Brewsday" posts here.

One of the main breweries we haven't had the chance to go to yet is the DogFish Head brewery.

They create tons of incredible beers, but there's one beer that is often referred to as The Holy Grail.

So much so that one day Josh and I were walking out of a bar, Josh casually mentioned "DogfishHead 120 minute IPA" in conversation, and a complete stranger walked up to us asking if we had any.

It was then that we knew we had to try it.

The brewery only makes it a few times a year in such a small quantity that it only gets distributed to a few lucky buyers. 

We searched local bars and stores for a few years, but we have always come up empty handed (up until last week when I saw on Whiskey Cake's Facebook page that they had some)

Without thinking twice Josh and I drove straight there, sat down at the bar, and ordered two.

We had been waiting years for this.

We drank the beer with smiles on our faces and loved every second of it.

The bartender asked us if we wanted to keep the bottle caps, which we thought was pretty silly at the time.

A few employees even came up to ask us about it.

For a split second I would say we almost felt like celebs.

Until we got this . . .

. . . anddddddd goodnight.

Plenty of blog posts coming soon about our adventures last weekend, as soon as I figure out how to add a 25th and 26th hour to the day. 

I still can't wrap my head around how bloggers with children make time to blog.

. . . and they always seem to be the best bloggers?

Anyways, this week is going to be nuts, only because I'm off work again next week.

This weekend: NYC

Next weekend: Grand Cayman

Please pardon my absences, but prepare for more blog (and Instagram) explosions to come.

Craving an adventure . . .

The last couple of weeks of work have been kicking my butt, so I think it's about time for a road trip.

I'm blessed to work for a surgeon who values quality family time, so when he is off work I'm off work as well.

Josh and I try to take full advantage of all possible vacation time.

My mom bought us this print from Katie Daisy's Etsy shop, link here

As of today I'm off work until Tuesday, so we're headin' east!

A few years ago, we spent New Year's Eve in Georgia and North Carolina.

We fell in love with the Smokey Mountains, Asheville, and the Sweetwater Brewery.

On our drive home from Asheville, we happened upon quite an enchanting river (which we later googled to find out was the Nantahala River, well known for its white water rapids)

We've been dying to return as soon as we left.

We are hoping to return to Sweetwater and visit the Nantahala to do some fly fishing and kayaking!

Follow me on instagram @em_kerrigan to keep up with our travels!

Our love affair with kale

Along with the rest of America, we have fallen in love with kale.

I snapped this pic last fall at Elizabeth's garden (how cute is that, seriously)

I've never been one to love veggies (until I met Josh and he cultured me) but I'm a sucker for anything that can be made into chips.

I've gotta have the crunch factor.

We often sauté kale, but my favorite way to cook it by far is by making kale chips (they just don't turn into the most photogenic side dish)

They made a great side with our shrimp and grits last week.

The tastiest (and easiest) way to make kale chips is by covering some shredded kale with Annie's Light Goddess dressing first then baking them at about 350 degrees until crispy.

. . . some other kale recipes we've tackled:

Sautéed lemon garlic chicken, kale, and squash covered with parmesan and chopped almonds then baked

. . . and of course the spicy chicken and kale stuffed sweet potatoes

If you have any other kale recipes I'd love to know them! 

Weekend Smeekend

This past weekend was my first (and only) weekend on call for 2013. 

In a weird way, I kinda of appreciated the fact that I was on call because it required us to stay in Dallas, and forced me to relax.
Having to be ready to leave for surgery at a moments notice keeps me on edge (even washing my hair is stressful) but I survived.
We still managed to fill the weekend with lots of quality friend time and great food, duh. 

Saturday our apartment complex had a local food truck stop by!
We take full advantage of our free food days around here.
So far our apartment has given us free Chick-fil-a, Starbucks, Red Mango, Salata, and Potbelly
#spoiled

How sweet was this little cutie who passed out fruit sorbets?

Getting to sleep in and enjoy coffee from our lawn chairs for three whole days was such a blessing.

Charlie appreciated it too, apparently. 

I got to spend Saturday night visiting with Allie on her drive back to Louisiana from Jackson Hole.

Charlie and I had a fantastic weekend.

. . . as did the other couple.

Memorial Day in Dallas marks the end of pleasant weather and the beginning of the suckiness.

Which called for a strawberry lemonade GoodPop.
I'm pretty addicted to these.
Have y'all had them?
All natural ingredients, made in Austin, and only around 50 calories! 

I hope y'all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend as well.

We are so thankful for our past and presents troops who allow us to enjoy life in America.

Now, I'm off to tackle my two day work week, which is gonna be quite the challenge.

Reasons I'm a terrible blogger

1) I don't have adorable kids. 

Just Charles. 

Therefore I fall into the category of creepy dog blogger.

(CharlesKim Noah, duh)

2) I don't take selfies

Except this one.

Only selfie ever (only because I was proud at how good my curls came out)

3) I'm not fashionable

. . . but I did steal some cute teal scrubs from the hospital once.

4) I'm only funny like twice a month
. . . but Josh is hilarious like two bazillion times a day, so I guess I should start using him to my advantage when it comes to blogging

5) I bought a "how to take better pictures with your dslr" book and never read it.

Therefore you get to see lots of great quality iPhone pics.

. . . like this one of the boys munchin on leftover wedding food last weekend.

(But I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I do take pretty great instagrams, follow me @em_kerrigan!)

One day cute kiddos will appear around our home, and maybe at that point I'll have the ability to take better pictures of them (and also have more time away from work to spend blogging)

. . . one can dream

Until then, you can deal with posts about food, Charlie, and things like Jared's collection of garden gnomes

Happy Friday guys!